Class of ’22
I found a vale of spring at summer’s end Before the trees had changed their green to gold. I plucked the fruit of fall and hiked the path To watch the harvest fire in the cold, To see your faces flicker with the flame Of youth that takes no thought of growing old. I loved…
Coming Home
After six years away, today the sunlight weaves through plum and amber leaves to fend off Boston’s gray. Most things avoid most change; rush hour traffic snarls and honks along the Charles, but pulling in is strange. It’s not repainting by the neighbors, or new faces, or all the gaping spaces where trees had blocked…
He Informs Dew
Anagram of Proverbs 9:10–12, NKJV yellow field yields fine wispy fiber: Your glory ordinary. fatuous gold as wisdom to heathen, woefully fractured— for You off lies. You add beam to leafed wind; I find you in one lone leaf, oh, but arise! be enlightened! say, “Israel bow to the King; He informs dew!”
The Green Man
Shallow there in the shadows, shaded by the laurels, as morning comes on clear and cold as old ice puddles, there where the ragged woodline makes a hedge against the day, a brim, a bound of darkness at the border of the field, he sits in fertile stillness. The slats of the old blind are…
Cherry on, Lost John
The world is not so sideways in its luck as people say; there still are futures of a healthful gain; rain still rains. Lichens droop from spruces, wizard-gray, there are yet handsome gambles in the living game; rain still rains. Below the dust crust, we strike water in the hushing cave; crystals lengthen, treasuring the…
What Is Past at Ninety-One
The axe and maul and splitting of the wood; The climbing up stone stairs above the house; The climbing down stone stairs below the house; The cutting of sasanqua blooms on the ridge; The standing straightly, shoulders back and down; The slanting path and vegetable plots; The clacking of the big 4-harness loom. Her solar…
After Canada Day
Tiny Beach, July 3, 2021 After the lockdowns, After the ragged works and restless days Of these many months, Between four walls amplifying Each slight and jab Each offence and outrage Each rumor and testimony, Old grievances rubbed raw Beneath the added weight of waiting, After all this, and more, and less, My family and…
The Parable of the Vineyard
It’s said his last words were Unto the uttermost part of the earth, My place of birth, And standing there, I gaze upon a cloud And wish to high heaven that he’d come out. I look steadfastly on His witnesses: clear windows fused with light And heads long gone By walls washed white, And…
As Light Dissolves
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.” I John 4: 7. As light dissolves the shadow’s sway So love drives out all fear. The night retreats before the day, As love turns hate to cheer. The army of advancing love Fools night without deceit No raptor strikes; instead a dove…
Summer Afternoon
Above our house an ancient maple spreads Its branches wide to shade in shadow all That falls below: Perennials in reds And blues and, wearing muted greens, a small But stubborn bed of hostas which we’ve done Our careless best to kill through sad neglect. A hum of bees floats lazy in the sun. Loud…